Weekend Warriors
From 2012-3, I did a series of small to medium scale portrait drawings on paper depicting my peers curled up inside their cars cradling their chosen outdoor recreation equipment. The images centered on the idea of the container or vessel—the womb, the automobile, and the mind-—as layered forms of enclosure and protection.
The project grew from my desire to find other women who were also still engaging in outdoor sports at a life stage when earlier generations of women did not. Before drawing each participant, I met with her to take part in the sport she identified as her hobby. If we weren’t already friends, this shared activity became a way for us to build familiarity and trust before the sitting. Titles in these portraits and others throughout my practice often came from sitters’ email addresses. In exchange for modeling, I usually scanned my drawing and sent them a copy through email.
Inspirations for the series included: Allan Kaprow’s essay collection The Blurring of Art and Life, my experience growing up under Title IX, the term “Peter Pan Generation” which was popular at the time, but was later replaced with “Millennial Generation,” and broader American cultural expectations surrounding female respectability, womanhood, and aging.